Rehabilitating Pakistan’s Child Soldiers

CNN: Image of a painting of Paradise allegedly used by militants to indoctrinate children.

Below is my reaction piece to a Washington Post article on rehabilitating child militants in Pakistan. The article was first published on Foreign Policy’s AfPak Channel:

On Sunday, the Washington Post covered the progress of a new boarding school established to rehabilitate and deradicalize former child militants in Swat Valley, Pakistan. The army-sponsored center currently houses 86 young boys who were either captured by the military or brought in by their families. According to the Post, “Some had been trained by insurgent groups as slaves or thieves, some as bombers.”

The rehabilitation and study of these boys could provide deeper insight into the indoctrination of child militants in Pakistan as well as the broader psychology of child soldiers as a whole. According to Amnesty International, “Approximately250,000 children under the age of 18 are thought to be fighting in conflicts around the world.” Moreover, although many child soldiers are between the ages of 15 and 18 years of age, significant recruitment starting at the age of 10 and the use of even younger children has been recorded.

In Pakistan, a disturbing number of suicide bombers are between the ages of 12-18 years old, about 90%, noted Pakistani journalist Zahid Hussain, who is the senior editor at Newsline magazine and the author of Frontline Pakistan. However, in the PBS Frontline World documentary, Children of the Taliban, filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy interviewed Taliban commander Qari Abdullah who revealed he also recruits children as young as five, six and seven years old, emphasizing, “Children are tools to achieve God’s will. And whatever comes your way, you sacrifice it.”

In an interview with BBC News Hour, Chinoy noted that one of the most interesting things about meeting with the Taliban, particularly the younger militants, was that they “all look like they’re in a trance, they rock back and forth, it’s as if they’re reciting things that they have been programmed to recite.”

Pakistani authorities rescued 20 young boys who had been among hundreds recruited by the Taliban, reported media outlets in July 2009. Major Nasir Khan, a military spokesman in Swat, stated the child fighters had been heavily brainwashed by militants. When asked what they had been told by the Taliban, the boys reportedly said, “The Pakistan army is the ally of the Western capitalist world, they are the enemies of Islam. The fight against them is justified, they are apostates, the friends of the infidels.”

In the upcoming issue of the CTC Sentinel, S.H. Tajik notes the main theme in lectures in both the senior (ages 16 years and older) and junior (ages 7 to 15 years) camps centered on revenge. Given that honor and revenge are intrinsically linked in Pashtun culture, this tactic is an important recruitment mechanism, and instructors often “call attention to the helplessness of Muslims whose daughters and sisters are dishonored by non-Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

Young would-be suicide bombers are also persuaded by the promise of Paradise. In January 2010, the Pakistani military uncovered a Taliban compound in Nawaz Kot, allegedly used to train child suicide bombers, (though the Pakistani Taliban denies the compound was theirs). According to CNN correspondent Arwa Damon, children are shown brightly colored paintings meant to depict the heavenly delights that await them, including rivers of milk and honey and female virgins. The images stand “in clear contrast to the barren and harsh landscape surrounding [them],” drastically different from the poverty many of these young recruits face on a daily basis.

At the army-sponsored rehabilitation school, neuropsychologist Feriha Peracha says the patterns among the 86 young boys have so far been revealing. The Postreports that Peracha has observed that “most of the boys are middle children who have been lost in the shuffle of large, poor families with absent fathers. Few had much formal schooling, many are aggressive, and most score poorly on educational aptitude tests.”

While the efforts of this center should be lauded, more resources must be allocated to absorb the overwhelming number of child fighters, particularly as the Pakistani military gains ground against militants in Pakistan. The center, as a pilot school, can apply best practices from successful programs rehabilitating child soldiers in other countries. In Sri Lanka, for example, the government established numerous transit centers as part of a complex program to rehabilitate former child soldiers of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The International Cricket Council (ICC), the Sri Lankan Cricket Association and UNICEF have also partnered in this effort, sponsoring a program that uses cricket to rehabilitate and engage these children.

There are universal lessons that can be drawn from past and current rehabilitation efforts. By using innovative programs like sports, children are engaged as children, not merely as reformed militants. While child soldier recruitment and indoctrination obviously varies from conflict to conflict, such programs can be adapted to the nuances of Pakistan’s situation.

Pakistan should also assess the complex root causes behind this phenomenon in order to design solutions. If a number of these children are from poor families, de-radicalization programs should also include skill-building courses that will provide these young boys opportunities after they return to their families. If rehabilitation centers are replicated, they should be adapted for the nuances of that particular village, tribal culture, and society. A one-size-fits-all model will not be able to address the complexities of Pakistan, and needs assessments must be conducted to ensure these regional differences are taken into consideration.

The growing phenomenon of child militants in Pakistan is a horrific reality, one mirrored in various conflicts throughout history. Children are targeted because they can be easily manipulated and brainwashed by a group’s ideology. In Pakistan’s northwest areas and tribal agencies, there is a younger generation whose lives have been punctured by violence — bombings, drone attacks, ongoing fighting between militants and the military. The psychological impact of conflict not just on Pakistani child militants but Pakistani children as a whole is an issue that we neglect at our peril.

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18 Responses

What a moving post. I hope the efforts pay off and these children get an opportunity to be children once again. You’re absolutely correct in saying that education and employment are key. I look forward to reading an update on this program started by the army. Thanks once again for keeping us informed.

Depressing but very well-written piece, particularly the section that emphasizes the contrasting options presented to the children (the perfection of the proposed afterlife vice the desolate nature of their immediate surroundings). Having participated in athletics throughout nearly my entire life, I would like to draw attention to your focus on rehabilitating children through activities tailored towards children. The education part of “reeducation” can be both difficult and unattractive for children that are being reintegrated; giving them outlets that help refocus their energies and allow them to act as the children they are would seemingly increase the odds for success. Again, excellent piece.

Wonderful (and chilling) piece Kuks. Rehabilitation through sports and the arts, so that kids can be kids as u said, is such an important factor. These kids have been used as catalysts for destruction at such a young age, that to de-program them is a feat in itself. To be able to teach them life skills, self awareness, and self worth through sports, music, art (real art not the crap these militants hang up for them to view as Paradise) is such an important part of the rehabilitation process. It sent shivers up my spine to imagine these 7 year old boys rocking back and forth in a trance, repeating all the nonsense that they were taught. Really insightful piece, you are making a difference and sharing knowledge with each piece that you write.

Rehabilitation of the people in that region especially the child is critical for sustainable peace in this region. I specifically remember an article in Daily Times on 12th March 2010 by Gulmina Bilal in which she talked about the same issue. Gulmina wrote and I quote “Young children were kidnapped by the Taliban and then made to serve as suicide bombers. These young men, and in the latter part of the battle young women, became cannon fodder for the Taliban’s heinous designs. They did not have the freedom to choose their path.” The article can be read at http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=20103\12\story_12-3-2010_pg3_5

What’s interesting is that the Taliban doesn’t deny recruiting children to become suicide bombers, they do deny doing it forcefully, however. In fact, they say that the children come to them “willingly” – while I doubt that’s completely true, Chinoy’s documentary does note that a lot of parents send their children to madrassas (obviously not all madrassas are radical or preach violence, but I’m speaking of the ones that act as an entry point to recruitment camps), because of the free food & boarding. Once there, they incrementally become indoctrinated into this ideology. Here is the post I wrote specifically about Children of the Taliban: https://changinguppakistan.wordpress.com/2009/04/16/children-of-the-taliban/

Kudos Kalsoom! For highlighting a very pertinent issue, the case of child soldiers is perturbing indeed. Such children are often abandoned by their family members, who fear backlash from the authorities. The lost innocence is hard to restore and the trauma perhaps lingers on for life. The process rehabilitation is tricky as the victims are often overpowered by shame and regrets and they fall into self-pity. They however also provide us an insight to study the terrorist mindset and their broader objectives if they are de-briefed properly. Such children need our utmost care and attention so that they can be freed from the demons of their past.

In my research for that piece, numerous sources noted that once these boys were indoctrinated, they were also sold off to other militant groups. The Washington Post, in its piece, noted the boys who are currently being rehabilitated have allegiances to different insurgent groups.

The Mumbai attackers are also an interesting case study, particularly since Kasab was given to the LeT. Once part of the group, they are isolated from each other during training, and desensitized to violence. This is supposedly very similar to how child soldiers in various conflicts (Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone, etc.) are conditioned to violence – your weapon is seen as your measure of manhood. So there are definitely some interesting threads that connect these children together.

It’s scary that militants in Pakistan are now resorting to the use of child soldiers, although not surprising, since children are easily influenced and the hard-line militants will do anything to further their cause. It’s sad that this is happening in Pakistan when we generally associate the sad reality of child soldiers with ongoing conflicts in distressed countries of Africa.

Thank God there is an effort being put into the rehabilitation of these child soldiers. Hopefully if it isn’t already a widespread effort, it will become more encompassing to prevent these children from growing up with the tainted hatred and violent ideology that is being ingrained in them as children.

The optimist in me says that if the children are rescued soon enough, they are still impressionable enough to be straightened out, whereas older terrorists are more set in their ways. Conversely, some of the rehabilitation tactics that have proven to be effective with adult terrorists and that are used by Saudi Arabian authorities and the US military in Iraq will not work on child soldiers. Namely the incentives including introducing the militants to women to get them married and start a family, giving the rehabilitated terrorists money and cars to get their lives back on track, and getting them jobs to keep a steady income are not possible with children. I think the family is a very important part in the rehabilitation process though. For adult militants, successful rehabilitation techniques have largely relied on the building of a family, the idea being that a wife and her relatives and the whole family environment will place pressure on the former terrorists to keep them on the right track.

I wonder how the family plays a role with the rehabilitation of child soldiers? Do they have families to go back to in most cases, or no? If not what can fill that void.

From what I’ve read so far, I think aside from psychological counseling, the focus should be on treating the children like children. In the case of Sri Lanka as I mentioned before, this involves the use of sports like cricket, with former child soldiers in Sierra Leone, I believe they used art as well. Many of these kids have sadly been hardened to lose their innocence and childhood – rehabilitation efforts should also have a focus on that as a result.

According to the WaPo piece, these boys will be returned back to their families, though I’m fuzzy on details!

The story of nine year old Meena or the plight of Ali a twelve year old militant is no different; Meena was forced to become a suicide bomber as her father and brother were part of the Taliban movement. The accounts of such children reveal that they were given medications so that they can be kept in a state of trance and hence indoctrinated with false propaganda. We need to make these children believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel and that they have a right to live as a productive citizen.

That’s interesting – I’m assuming medications mean drugs? In Sierra Leone, child soldiers were reportedly pumped with “brown brown,” consisting mainly of amphetamines and cannabis and alcohol, all at once, in order to keep them drugged and influence them more easily.

There are actually several universal tactics used by militant and paramilitary groups to indoctrinate child soldiers – one being the use of drugs, but also isolating children from their parents/families and each other to increase their dependence on the group’s leaders. Children are also taught that their manhood or strength is measured by their weapons. One author has a particularly controversial point of view on the psychology of these children that many choose to kill out of their own volition because it outweighs the cost of them not killing.

The minds of the children are brainwashed due to what they see. They grow up seeing war and bloodshed so rehabilitation to them is very important. There is one rehabilitation ahead of malakand agency and the only one in Pakistan in which the abducted children are brought and are treated. There is a need of more in the country.

These terrorists must never be taken lightly, as they are fully equipped to transform the hearts and minds of our people, especially children. The effort to rehabilitate these children is an extraordinary attempt by the army, and must be continued until this menace of terrorism is eliminated from its roots. All the children in these areas must be given a chance to relive their lives, as they dreamt it to be.

While we are talking about rehabilitating child soldiers, there was a perturbing report in Daily times today that cited an intelligence report which warns that the terrorist can use youngsters as suicide bomber and disguise them as students and suicide jackets will be replaced by School bag full of explosive. I take this report seriously as during the summers the jacket is not a good cover and spotting some with school bag is a difficult task.

Its important to let you all know that the ‘army sponsored rehab’ although and army initiated and supported project, is actually functioning under the funding of a local NGO.
The rehabilitation facility provides a full academic curricula for these juveniles, as well as accelerated learning programmes where need be. It also provides vocational training, psychosocial intervention and corrective religious education (aimed at correcting the erroneous beliefs as put forth by the terrorists in Swat). Religious education is also provided to the visiting families by a renowned and moderate religious scholar. Sports are also given priority (volleyball, table tennis, football, badminton and cricket), along with computer education. The children are encouraged to express themselves in the form of poetry, painting and other forms of art.
This rehabilitation program aims to provide these adolescents with an opportunity to evolve as productive and contributing citizens of Swat and of Pakistan.
It is important to add that this project would have been impossible to successfully implement without the constant support of the Pakistan Armed Forces.
We have come to rely on our armed forces everytime the going gets tough and they have always pulled through for us, MashAllah.
We should all remember that the country is not just for the armed forces to defend. Its the duty of each individual, at least those who are hold a Pakistani Passport, to contribute positively to our homeland. Watching the developments, or lack of, and turning the other cheek is not what made this country, and its definitely not what is going to sustain it!